So Much To Say

If you actually read this blog because you're one of the lovely people who really care for us and want to know what we're up to, all the little mundane details that make life the rich pageant that it is, I should apologize for depriving you of late. I keep coming up with things to write for my imaginary other audience, the uncaring public at large who will take their short attention spans elsewhere if they are not constantly (okay, occasionally) amused, entertained and challenged. But the rational part of my brain, in its futile attempt to keep my ego in check, does remind me that those readers don't exist, having long ago abandoned the brief fad of reading blogs and are now Facebooking and iPhoning.

So us. There's lots to tell.

I just had a birthday. It was a great day. My work chums took me out for lunch, my family made me a delicious dinner, then we went to see the Twin Cities River Rats do their amazing feats, some of them on their feets, on the Mississippi River. Follow that up with dessert out (and more dessert waiting back home) and I couldn't ask for anything more.

I did, however, also acquire myself a Zune. A toy like this will keep me occupied for months, but before I get to enjoy it I have to break down and install Windows XP, which I've neglected doing for years, since Windows Server 2000 works so well. So that's my next project.

Alicia's project is peeing and pooping on the potty, which any parent knows is an exciting time, both the good kind and the bad kind. We tend to mix and match approaches, sometimes letting her go bare-bottomed to help her remember, sometimes putting underwear on her, and trying to provide frequent reminders. Yesterday was her first full diaperless day without a mishap. Today, one setback. But she's definitely got the idea, and she's on board with it. We'll get there.

Michelle got a job. The same job she had last year, she got it again. It's a grant position, and the grant had to be applied for again this summer. This week the word came in...she gets to keep her job. So that's good.

Toby is still Toby. He's 4, very bright and very funny, and quite moody. Not all of our parenting strategies work anymore, and sometimes he has bad days and we feel responsible. But he makes us smile and laugh a lot, and he loves to do that. Alicia is very different from him and he doesn't know how to handle her. We keep telling him he has to use words with her when it's not going well, instead of things like pushing her or simply falling down on the floor and doing nothing. Don't laugh; he gets passivity from his dad. He's really starting to get it, using words a lot more, so now it's quite obvious that words don't work with Alicia because she is two. Our goal for them is always that they be able to solve their problems on their own, and we're starting to get it through our heads that kids this young just don't. Parents just do have to be the police sometimes and maybe we should just stop pretending that we aren't going to stoop to that level.

So. Us. Getting older, learning new things...may it never stop.